Alexander Zverev has more pressure than all the other players at the Paris Masters 1000, because he has to try to defend the title won in Bercy in the last edition and the conditions do not seem to favor his game.
The world number 3 had found himself perfectly at ease in 2024 with very fast courts, in fact he had been the protagonist of a truly extraordinary run in the French capital. The German ace has experienced a season below general expectations and has expressed his best tennis only in a few moments, sinking into a very accentuated crisis due to his clear loss to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final at the beginning of the year.
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Sascha is trying to shine again in the latter part of this season and sent positive signs at the Vienna ATP 500 last week, considering that he reached the final putting former world No. 1 Sinner in serious trouble. The champion from Hamburg had won the first set in the Austrian capital, before suffering the comeback of the Italian star who prevailed at the end of a truly electrifying battle.
Sascha complains too much
Zverev's goal is to win again in Paris, but his run began with a hard-fought win against Argentine ace Ugo Carabelli who also had a break lead in the third set yesterday.
In his press conference, the former world No.2 blazed the surface like other players: "It's a really strange surface, where the shots are not effective and you can't put your opponent in trouble. The ball bounces very low and if you try to give more power it tends to slow down. I don't want to sound like the one who complains every week about something, but it's very complicated to play incisive tennis in these conditions."
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Alexander will return to action in the French capital against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to secure a place in the quarterfinals. The latter still has a chance to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
